Between Breaths
by Beautiful Thief
Summary: A collection of ficlets and drabbles originally written for AoKise on my tumblr.
1. Going Away to War AU

Written on 6/9/2014 for cerulean-city on tumblr who requested 'my favourite pairing from my gay basketball anime' for the AU ficlet meme:

29. Going away to war AU

Warning for character death.

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><p>They're both young and strong, with years of national-level sporting achievement under them. They're ideal recruits - not that they really had any choice in the matter.<p>

Neither of them really wants to be here, but they both felt that it would be too shameful not to, and they feel like they're protecting the people they love; Aomine has Momoi to fight for, and Ryouta has his sisters.

And he also has Aomine.

Ryouta's not sure if they're going to make it out alive, but he's willing to do everything to make sure that Aomine does. Ryouta could probably do any kind of work, from piloting to sniping; he's adaptable and learns quickly, as long as he can see someone do it first, and his reflexes are insane. But he does everything he possibly can to keep by Aomine's side, and even on the days Aomine pulls him aside to yell at him about how stupid he's being, about the opportunities Ryouta has to escape the worst of the war with his talents, he refuses to budge.

_I won't go home without you. _It's a prayer, a curse, a promise.

* * *

><p>(The greatest tragedy is that neither one of them ever never really does come back from the war, at least not entirely; because Kise never did make it home, and part of Daiki was left behind in the last place he saw Kise alive in the moment before the blast swallowed him whole.)<p> 


	2. Nanny-Single Parent AU

Written on 6/9/2014 for cimberelly on tumblr for the AU ficlet meme:

46. nanny/single parent au

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><p>Daiki probably should have been worried that when he'd asked for Daichi's opinion on all the nannies that had been interviewed, he'd immediately said <em>I liked Ryou-chan<em> very enthusiastically.

The thing was, as a busy single father, Daiki had a lot on his plate, and even though he absolutely hated it, he couldn't take care of Daichi the way he needed; his hours were long and he needed someone to ensure that Daichi got to and from school safely, and make sure he had breakfast and sometimes dinner. So a nanny was needed, and Daichi could be fussy, so if he liked one of them, well, Daiki was getting them.

Daiki didn't remember that his first thought about Kise Ryouta had been _holy shit he's gorgeous_ at the time he called him to tell him he'd gotten the job, but he _did_ remember it the morning Kise first arrived, and Daiki had to stumble through the quiet tour of the house and give Kise his own set of keys so that he could let himself in; and he remembered again when he came home to find Daichi hanging off Kise's leg as Kise attempted to walk down the hall.

Daichi wasn't the only one enraptured by his new nanny.

Daiki worried sometimes that Kise would notice the way that he looked at him when Kise had encouraged Daichi to run off and go brush his teeth or something; that Kise would notice that the few times Daiki had the occasion to touch him that they would linger a little longer than they ought. Daiki hadn't been with anyone since the divorce with his ex-wife and Daichi's mother; hadn't been with a man since years before he'd gotten together with her, either. But there was something about the way Kise was like the living embodiment of sunshine, even when he looked worn down to the bone, that made Daiki ache to reach out and take him for his own.

But Daichi needed Kise more than Daiki did, so he buried the longing and smiled from afar.


	3. Teacher-Single Parent AU

Written on 7/9/2014 for two anons on tumblr for the AU ficlet meme:

4. teacher/single parent au

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><p>Ryouta hated parent-teacher meetings.<p>

Natsuko took after him in a lot of ways; actually, sometimes he wondered if there was any of her mother in her at all. She definitely resembled him at age ten - she was an energetic, excitable child, constantly searching for stimulation.

Often her teachers would would talk to him about how she was disruptive, how she didn't listen, how her grades suffered. Ryouta knew from experience how boring and uninteresting classwork could be - the apple _really_ hadn't fallen very far from the tree - and even now he didn't have an answer to the question of how to engage a child whose strengths funamentally led them away from academics.

So he wasn't looking forward to this year's meeting any more than he'd looked forward to any other meeting, as he strolled through the school halls. He ignored the way that some of the mothers openly looked him over; his priority these days was being Natsuko's father, being as good a father he could to make up for her flighty and irresponsible mother.

(they'd been young starlets drunk on their rocketing fame; it had been an _accident_, but Sakiko had refused to have the pregnancy terminated even though she didn't want the child, and Ryouta wasn't able to abide the idea of the child being dragged around the world with no sense of home or consistency with a parent who was barely more than a child herself. He wasn't that much more mature or grown up than Sakiko at the time either, but…)

He arrived at the classroom listed on the handout Natsuko had brought home two weeks ago; there was no one waiting outside, but he could hear the murmur of voices inside. Clearly Natsuko's teacher was still with the previous parents, so he sat down on the chair outside with a sigh.

It was a few minutes before the door opened, and a couple stepped out, thanking 'Aomine-sensei' for his time. Ryouta stood and knocked on the door as he entered.

"Yeah, come in, give me a second," was the distracted answer to his knock. It was just as well that the teacher was flicking through his files to find Natsuko's, because Ryouta needed a minute to get over how attractive Natsuko's teacher was.

(It was _definitely_ irresponsible to hit on your child's teacher. _Definitely_. No matter how attractive and well-built he looked.)

He sat in the seat across from Aomine-sensei, and the man looked up and blinked.

"Just you?"

Ryouta bit back the flare of irritation that sparked. Aomine-sensei probably didn't _mean_ to suggest he wasn't enough for Natsuko; he was probably just wondering if they were waiting on another person to begin.

"Just me," he answered, and gave his best smile. "Natsu-chan's mother isn't around much."

Aomine hummed. "Okay."

"I know Natsu-chan's grades aren't very good," Ryouta said, because that was where all these meetings started, and he wanted to get it out of the way. "And I know that she's disruptive and can't sit still and she can be loud. So if you're just going to tell me she's a problem child—"

"Natsuko's not a problem child," Aomine interrupted. "Well, okay, she is, but not like…" He ran a hand through his hair. "She's bored and has too much energy, yeah? She needs to find somewhere to expend some of it."

Ryouta sighed and slumped back into his chair. "I know," he mumbled, "but she's too much like me. Nothing keeps her challenged long enough. I had that problem at school too." He bit his lip and then continued. "I really did hope she wouldn't be a fast visual learner like I was, and then I hoped that maybe she'd be able to find a challenge where I never did playing with boys, but she's running through sports just like I did."

Aomine tapped his fingers on the desk, seeming somewhat lost in thought."I might have an idea," he finally said.

* * *

><p>(It wasn't until Natsuko's elementary graduation that Ryouta took the chance to steal a kiss from Aomine-sensei; but, he decided in hindsight, it had been worth waiting for.)<p> 


	4. Waking Up With Amnesia AU

Written on 7/9/2014 for tormalyne on tumblr, for the AU ficlet meme:

18. waking up with amnesia au

This one is really angsty ;~;

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><p>He hasn't seen Kise since the day he woke up in the hospital.<p>

"He misses you," Tetsu tells him one afternoon.

"He doesn't remember me to miss me."

The silence on the other end of the line is enough to know that it's still true

.

_"I'm sorry - where am I? Where are my parents? Who are you?"_

.

Kise's started playing basketball again because the doctors think the familiar environment will help him recover his memories, but when Daiki goes to watch the practice games, even though Kise's body remembers what it's doing, Kise himself never does, and there's definitely something missing. Daiki tries to tell himself the missing thing is the memories, but deep inside he's pretty sure he knows what's gone.

Daiki has come to dread the thought of all of this year's tournaments.

.

Adjusting to a life without Kise in it had been difficult in strange ways.

Daiki had gotten alarmingly used to checking his phone, so even though it never went off, he frequently opened it up, and found himself staring at the background Kise had set of the two of them, the one that he'd never quite been able to bring himself to delete or change, and the uneasy sense of loneliness that came from feeling disconnected from someone important felt almost like it would overwhelm him.

He noticed he played less basketball, because Kise wasn't there firing off a hundred texts a minute asking to play on his free days, and that he avoided washing the few clothes he had left that Kise had worn until there was nothing left of him there at all.

All these things came with a sense of longing and desperation that he couldn't quite shake.

.

Satsuki found him on the roof.

Sometimes he'd come back here, especially on the days where his body feels heavy and he doesn't want to do anything. These days had been more frequent lately, and they both know it, but they haven't really spoken about why.

At least, they haven't yet.

She kicked him in the side.

"You're not the only one who's sad they've been forgotten," she said, and she probably meant it to come out shriek-y and angry, but she just sounds like she's going to cry instead.

.

_The fire's gone out_.

.

Satsuki and Tetsu dragged him to Kise's house one weekend just after the Inter High preliminaries finish.

(Kaijou made it through, but Kise's full potential didn't spark even once)

Satsuki shoved a box and some flowers into his hands as Tetsu rung the bell, and he doesn't want to know how she knows where he buys the cakes Kise likes but always says he shouldn't eat because he'll put on weight, and what flowers he gets Kise on special days, because he swears he's never shown or told her about— _fucking Kise_.

And then he opened the door.

He's as beautiful as he always is, and Daiki had to close his eyes to get the air back in his lungs. He smiled cheerfully at both Tetsu and Satsuki, but it's obvious the recognition isn't one from before.

This is why he didn't want to come.

"We finally brought Dai-chan along!" Satsuki chirped as Kise stepped aside to let them in. "He's being grumpy today, so don't pay too much mind to his mood! He's really missed you a lot!"

Kise looked at him curiously, and from the corner of his eye, Daiki could see Tetsu slip inside too - he always was very aware of when it was appropriate to make himself scarce - and Daiki looked away as he passed his offerings to Kise.

"It's nice to meet you," Kise said. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I… yeah," he muttered, feeling awkward. How do you respond to that, coming from someone you love _so much,_ but to whom you are pretty much a stranger?

The desire to touch him was almost overpowering - instead of succumbing to the urge, Daiki followed Satsuki and Tetsu's path into the house.

Kise followed him in, and seemed about to tell him where to go.

"It's fine," Daiki said as he saw Kise opening his mouth to speak, and he's probably being a little short with him, but this hurts, this hurts _a lot_. "I know where to go."

"…Right," Kise laughed, a little awkwardly. "Of course. I'm going to put the flowers in a vase."

Daiki let himself fall onto the couch next to Sasuki with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes. If he did that, he could pretend Kise was doing what he always did, that things were the same - the sounds in the kitchen were painfully familiar.

When Kise returned with the flowers in his favourite vase, Daiki felt like this was an exercise in emotional torture, and cursed both Satsuki and Tetsu for doing this to him. He wanted to leave. He wanted to leave _right now_. He wasn't ready for this, he couldn't do this, sit here and pretend everything was okay and normal, like he wasn't sitting here raw and _aching_—

"Momocchi and Kurokocchi tell me you play basketball, Aominecchi?"

When Daiki looked at him, even Kise seemed confused by his use of the -cchi suffix, blinking almost bemusedly. His mouth and tongue know the shapes of his name said that way better than any other.

"Yeah," Daiki answered.

"We should play some time!" Kise said. "Everyone's told me all these stories about you, you know? I've been really curious to meet you again."

"Maybe," Daiki muttered. "We'll see. You've got my number, so use it."

.

Satsuki looked kind of guilty as they walked home.

"Dai-chan…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

He heard her stop walking, and turned to look at her. She was crying again. Damn it.

"Dai-chan," she whispered. "I really hoped he'd remember."

"…Yeah," he mumbled. "Me too."

.

_"There's something missing," he says. "And I can't find it."_

_He doesn't really remember his senior, but it doesn't matter._

_Kasamatsu sighs. "You're missing a lot of things, Kise," he says, and he looks sad, too. _

_Everyone always looks sad when they talk to him._

.

Daiki wasn't not sure whether or not to be relieved or disappointed that Kise was on the other side of the Inter High bracket.

For one horribly hopeful moment, when Kise bounds up to him after his first match, Daiki let himself believe that Kise remembered.

"Oh man," Kise said, "they really weren't exaggerating when they said you were amazing!"

_Stupid_, he told himself, looking away and biting the inside of his cheek because the disappointment crashing through him is all his own fault, not Kise's. _Why did you let yourself hope?_

"Thanks," he muttered.

.

He rocked up to the park they always played in reluctantly, because Kise was still Kise, and he was still hard to ignore and deny, and after he'd seen him play at the Inter High, he'd been begging desperately for Daiki to play against him.

(Kaijou got knocked out in the quarter finals against Yosen, and everyone only wished that they were surprised by the outcome.)

His heart feels like it's been shredded and mangled into pieces, but it's still so, _so_ weak to Kise Ryouta.

He let himself indulge in throwing his basketball at Kise's head when he saw him sitting and kicking his legs on the bench near the basketball court. Maybe it's childish, but he's still hurting, and, well. Surely the others have all told him that Daiki used to pick on him something shocking.

Kise grabbed at the back of his head, and that predictable, signature whine began to start at the back of his throat when, abruptly, it was cut off.

Daiki's heart caught in his throat and his breathing stopped as Kise turned slowly to look at him, eyes widened.

"…Aominecchi?"

"…Idiot," he choked out around the thickness that was making it hard to breathe, "has no one seriously given your stupid ass a good knock on the head?"

Kise laughed, but it was a strangely wet noise. "That's Aominecchi's job, isn't it? Ah, don't cry! You'll make me start crying too!"

"Too late," Daiki muttered, but whether he was talking about himself or about Kise couldn't be clear, because when Kise descended on him and Daiki latched onto him harder than he could ever remember doing before, he was pretty sure they were both crying.


	5. Thunderstorms

Submitted on 31/10/2014 to basketballpoetsociety's Challenge No. 95: Character Battle for Kise.

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><p>Daiki discovers that Kise loves thunderstorms one afternoon as they're racing towards his house in the pouring rain because they were distracted by basketball, and didn't realise or remember it was supposed to rain today until they started getting hit by raindrops.<p>

Kise is laughing between breaths as they run, and he has one of those honest, excited smiles on his face; the rain is getting steadily heavier and they're going to be completely soaked by the time they reach Daiki's house. Daiki's not entirely sure _why_ Kise is enjoying this so much – _he_ is cold and soggy and can't wait to get back so he can get under a hot shower and warm up again.

When they finally get to his house, Daiki fumbles with the key because he's shivering, and Kise's laughter subsides a little even as he looks longingly back out at the rain. Kise's probably one of those romantic idiots who thinks kissing in the rain is anything other than cold and uncomfortable. Daiki's about to tell him there's no fucking way he's going back out in the rain even though he's already wet when the sky lights up. Kise's smile doesn't falter as the rumble of thunder rolls over them moments later. If anything, it gets bigger.

He finally gets the key into the lock and opens the door, and he has to yank Kise inside because he's too busy searching the sky for more lightning to pay attention to the fact that the door is open.

It's rare that Aomine has to fight to get Kise out of his clothes. Well, usually they're in the middle of a completely different kind of mood when he's trying to get Kise naked. Right now, though, he just wants to get Kise out of his wet things so he doesn't get himself sick. Kise gets at _least_ a hundred times more annoying and whiny when he's sick, and Aomine's phone is usually his victim of choice for complaints.

Kise won't come away from the window, which is also annoying. He's searching the sky for more lightning, and he wriggles every time the sky lights up. God, he's frustrating. They both need to get clean, because they'd been playing for ages and they're covered in sweat. Usually Kise's the first to start complaining about how disgusting he feels.

Also, Daiki's already got his own shirt off, and he's a little annoyed that it doesn't seem to have as much of Kise's attention as it usually does. He's being ignored for a goddamn _thunderstorm_.

"Kise," he growls.

"Sorry, Aominecchi," Kise says. But he doesn't take his eyes away from the sky. "I just really love the lightning, you know?"

"No," Daiki grunts in response. "Get your damn clothes off, idiot."

"Always in such a hurry, Aominecchi," Kise teases, but he's still not _looking_ at him, for fuck's sake. "If you wanted it that bad, you should have said so, and we would have stayed here and—"

Daiki doesn't let him finish his sentence, because Kise has to know that he's saying stupid shit. He smacks the back of his head.

"Wet things off."

Kise pouts, but finally, _finally_ starts shedding his soaked clothes.

"I want to watch for a while," he says, standing there quite shamelessly clothes-less and enraptured by the way the sky was lighting up. Why does Daiki like him so much? It's completely beyond him sometimes.

"Don't stand in front of the window naked," is all he says. "If someone gets a picture I won't be sorry for you."

"You're not going to get me clothes?" Kise makes his best attempt at a puppy dog expression. He's very good at it, too, aided by his usual adopted air of 'excited puppy', but Daiki's seen too much of Kise by now to be fooled by this trick.

"You know where they are. Get them yourself," he answers. "I'm not dumb enough to want to stand around cold watching the sky. I'm getting in the shower." There is an implicit suggestion there that Kise should join him, but for once, he doesn't.

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><p>Kise gets sick despite Daiki's efforts. Next time, he thinks as he turns off his phone because it won't stop buzzing, he'll just leave Kise outside to freeze to death. When he's dead, he won't be so annoying anymore, and Daiki's <em>pretty<em> sure that he'll eventually stop grieving and find a normal person to date.


	6. Trolls (Pro-Gamer AU)

Submitted on 1/11/2014 to basketballpoetsociety's Challenge No. 95: Character Battle for Kise. More pre-AoKise than actual AoKise.

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><p>He's spectating Kise's game.<p>

Really, what he wants to be is _playing_ with Kise, either on the team or against. Playing with Kise is always _hilarious_. There's something missing, spectating like this – he can't see team or all chat, where Kise is undoubtedly talking the most ridiculous amount of shit like he always does, even in official games.

Even though he's been doing it for years, there are still some people who still can't tune him and his endless stream of bullshit out, and get infuriated by it. That's why Kise does it, of course; he loves the reaction. It was better in the old days when they weren't all so well established, the days when the opposing team would form a death squad with a singular hive mind set only on blowing up Kise's champion; it doesn't happen so much anymore, but occasionally someone will break and just go batshit trying to kill Kise.

The problem with that is that Kise is incredible. He doesn't outplay quite as hard as Daiki himself does, but it's a pretty close thing. (His fails are incredible too. Daiki loves watching Kise fuck up as well. Kise's always infuriatingly good at laughing it off, and Daiki likes the way he looks when he's smiling the way he does after a particularly bad fail in solo queue; it's never an embarrassed look, it's always genuine delight at the ridiculousness of how badly he messed up.)

He wants to see what trash Kise is talking, but he's not streaming; either he's forgotten to, or he looks or feels like shit and doesn't want to show his adoring fans.

Kise's always been pretty popular. Even before he established himself as a personality for this game, he'd been popular on another, and even though he'd decided to change games, his fanbase hadn't even dropped him. Daiki occasionally envied how photogenic Kise was even over webcams. _He_ looked like a serial killer when he streamed.

Daiki didn't get what sucked people in about Kise other than that ridiculously nice looking face (what was it that sucked _him_ in about Kise, then?), but it was what it was.

He closed the spectator window and sighed. Queueing with Kise would mean waiting forever for a game with their combined rankings, unless Midorima got on with his duo partner, which was unlikely, because somehow the bastard managed to keep 'normal people' hours.

Also Kise would be insufferable about him asking to queue together.

Maybe if Daiki was lucky, the queue gods would pit them against each other.


End file.
